Abstract

In todays modern world everything has become automated and everywhere we

could find this technology very useful because of its very ergonomic nature and its help to
mankind. Further it increases the reliability and the performance of the system. In my seminar
I am going to analyse one such automated system. As we all know, electricity plays a vital
role in our lives. It is such a part of life that we can never imagine a day without electricity.
Hence the maintenance and control of the electrical power system plays a vital role in our
daily life.One of the most important part of the electrical system is the substation. When
automation is integrated into substation, we could save energy as well as monitor the energy
that is being used in the different parts of the power system. Moreover automation in
substations can prove very helpful in detecting the fault current and transient analysis. It also
has an integrated storage of the data that is recorded and sensed .It thus reduces the work of
human by providing information that is being readily available in the form of digitalised
data.The above stated advantages and the need for a sustainable substation that can withstand
most of the faults especially during transient state is the one which paves way for the new
innovation in the field of substation known as substation automation.

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1 INTRODUCTION

Utilities are placing a greater emphasis on real time, enterprise wide information to
secure the right information and the right time to enhance reliability and to better manage
asset management and operations and management. This increases the need for a highly
reliable power system which can be achieved by automating the substation. The substation
automation is a cutting edge technology in the electrical field.
Substation automation can be conventionally segmented into the functions of data
acquisition, control, protection, diagnostics, and monitoring. While there is considerable
overlap between these categories, each has come to represent a set of automation functions
within the power substation. An excellent description of the numerous substation functions
and how they are interrelated has been prepared by the Application of New Technologies
Working Group of the Automatic and Supervisory Systems Subcommittee of the Substation
Committee.
The technology mainly involves the usage of IED(Intelligent Electronic
Devices),control and automation capabilities within a substation. The Control commands are
sent from remote devices to control power systems This mainly relies on substation
integration. This technology replaces manual integration of substation.
Smart substations form the key building block of a smart grid. Smart substation
implies, the creation of highly reliable power system, which rapidly responds to real time
events, with appropriate action to ensure uninterrupted power services to end users.
Substation automation lead to smart substations and Supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) forms the entry towards substation automation. SCADA was introduced in Indian
substations in the year 2000.

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2 EXISTING SUBSTATIONS

Much of the power system equipment in use today is nearing or has passed its
predicted operating life, and we are pushing equipment to increasingly higher levels to meet
demands. Injuries, failed equipment, unscheduled downtime, and loss of production are
concerns that require knowledge of in-service power system apparatus. This is coupled with
the competitiveness of the electrical energy market. The prevention of faults and defects in
substation primary equipment is considered a major differentiating factor in the quality of
power delivered by utilities. The reduction of faults and defects that cause interruptions in the
supply of electrical energy significantly improves service performance rates. The only way to
truly know the actual health, performance, and history of apparatus is to observe them in
service. Condition-based maintenance and replacement strategies are developed with
decision-making information collected from the substation that tells the present state and the
history of the primary equipment. It is essential that we enhance, automate, and reduce the
cost of collecting and acting on this decision-making information. To achieve this objective,
more efficient and intelligent maintenance practices are required and material, human, and
financial resources must be invested correctly. The rules and requirements of the modern
market no longer permit numerous corrective maintenance procedures or periodic
maintenance practices.
In the existing substations there is no information about present state and history
of the primary equipment that are being used in the substation thus making it difficult to track
the errors in substation. In the existing substations there is a need for numerous corrective and
maintenance procedures. The periodic checking of the equipments is also needed to be done.
Thus the implementation of technical monitoring system is unattractive. Condition based
maintenance and replacement strategies are absent.All these features in the existing
substations make it difficult for identification of error and ultimately there is a failure in the
way the substation operates. While there is a increase in the need for complete control, data
acquisition the existing substations doesnt completely satisfy the need. There have been
many advances in substation integration and automation over the past 10 years which makes
us proceed to the next level of intelligent technology i.e.,an automated one.

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3 NEED FOR SUBSTATION AUTOMATION

There is an increased focus on transmission and distribution investments to address

aging and distressed infrastructure. Utilities are placing a greater emphasis on real time,
enterprise wide information to secure the right information and the right time to enhance
reliability and to better manage asset management and operations and management. Utilities
face the challenge of determining a standard integration architecture that meets its specific
needs, can extract the desired operational and non-operational information, and deliver this
information to the users who have applications to analyze the information.

So how do utilities address this challenge? The main reason for the approach of
automated substation is to address the challengesfaced by the utilities.The control can even be
a remote one depending upon the control systems and programming of the substation.The
main needs of an automated substation requires an increase in reliability of the substation.It
also increases protection of substation.It helps in easy fault identification and analysis. It
must also be easy to maintain such a complicated network.

4 LEVELS OF AUTOMATION

Substation integration and automation can be broken down into five levels. The
lowest level is the power system equipment, such as transformers and circuit breakers. The
middle three levels are IED implementation, IED integration, and substation automation
applications. All electric utilities are implementing IEDs in their substations. The focus today
is on the integration of the IEDs. Once this is done, the focus will shift to what automation
applications should run at the substation level. The highest level is the utility enterprise, and
there are multiple functional data paths from the substation to the utility enterprise.
Open systems - An open system is a computer system that embodies supplier-
independent standards so that software may be applied on many different platforms and can
interoperate with other applications on local and remote systems. An open system is an
evolutionary means for a substation control system that is based on the use of nonproprietary,
standard software and hardware interfaces. Open systems enable future upgrades available

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from multiple suppliers at lower cost to be integrated with relative ease and low risk.

5 AUTOMATION TASKS

Automation task makes the main difference between conventional substations and
the future automated substations. The automated tasks have to be made in a way that it has
accuracy and its very easy in integrating and manipulating data. These data are also expected
to be highly confidential and they must be easily accessible during the time of faults and
transients. These highly important tasks are as follows,

Data Acquisition
Supervision
Control

5.1 DATA ACQUISITION

Data acquisition refers to acquiring, or collecting, data. Data is collected in the

form of measured analog current or voltage values or the open or closed status of contact
points. Acquired data is stored database for further use. The data acquisition is done mostly
by using the sensors and measuring devices such as current transformer and potential
transformers.The acquired data must be highly accurate as it forms the basis for all other
calculations and fault analysis. Acquired data can be used locally within the device collecting
it, sent to another device in a substation, or sent from the substation to one or several
databases for use by operators, engineers, planners, and administration.These acquired data
are stored in data warehouse. These data are then organised in the warehouse.

5.2 SUPERVISION

Computer processes and personnel supervise, or monitor, the conditions and status
of the power system using this acquired data. Operators and engineers monitor the
information remotely on computer displays and graphical wall displays or locally, at the
device, on front-panel displays and laptop computers. The supervision is done with the help

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of the collected data. The collected data is retrieved by means of a HMI (Human Machine
Interface) or HCI(Human Computer Interface).

5.3 CONTROL

Control refers to sending command messages to a device to operate the I&C and
power system devices. Traditional supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)
systems rely on operators to supervise the system and initiate commands from an operator
console on the master computer. Field personnel can also control devices using front-panel
push buttons or a laptop computer.

In addition, another task is power-system integration, which is the act of

communicating data to, from, or among IEDs in the I&C system and remote users.
Substation integration refers to combining data from the IEDs local to a substation so that
there is a single point of contact in the substation for all of the I&C data.

Power-system automation processes rely on data acquisition; power-system

supervision and power-system control all working together in a coordinated automatic
fashion. The commands are generated automatically and then transmitted in the same fashion
as operator initiated commands.

6 HARDWARE STRUCTURE OF SUBSTATION AUTOMATION

The physical structure of the automated substation is built to make it an efiicient and
reliable system.The components included in the substation include the following

6.1 DATA ACQUISITION

The instrument transformers with protective relays are used to sense the power-
system voltage and current. They are physically connected to power-system apparatus and
convert the actual power-system signals. The transducers convert the analog output of an
instrument transformer from one magnitude to another or from one value type to another,
such as from an ac current to dc voltage. Also the input data is taken from the auxiliary
contacts of switch gears and power-system control equipment.

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6.2 REMOTE TERMINAL UNIT

A remote terminal unit is an IED that can be installed in a remote location, and acts
as a termination point for field contacts. A dedicated pair of copper conductors is used to
sense every contact and transducer value. These conductors originate at the power-system
device, are installed in trenches or overhead cable trays, and are then terminated on panels
within the RTU. The RTU can transfer collected data to other devices and receive data and
control commands from other devices. User programmable RTUs are referred to as smart
RTUs.

Fig 6.2.1 REMOTE TERMINAL UNIT

6.3 METER
A meter is an IED that is used to create accurate measurements of power-system
current, voltage, and power values. Metering values such as demand and peak are saved
within the meter to create historical information about the activity of the power system.

6.4 DIGITAL FAULT RECORDER

A digital fault recorder (DFR) is an IED that records information about power-
system disturbances. It is capable of storing data in a digital format when triggered by
conditions detected on the power system. Harmonics, frequency, and voltage are examples of
data captured by DFRs.

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 Fig 6.4.1 Fault Recorder

6.5 PROTECTIVE RELAY

A protective relay is an IED designed to sense power-system disturbances and
automatically perform control actions on the I&C system and the power system to protect
personnel and equipment. The relay has local termination so that the copper conductors for
each contact do not have to be routed to a central termination panel associated with RTU.

Fig 6.5.1 Protective Relay

6.6 CONTROLLING DEVICES
Load tap changers are devices used to change the tap position on transformers.
These devices work automatically or can be controlled via another local IED or from a
remote operator or process.
Recloser controllers remotely control the operation of automated reclosers and
switches. These devices monitor and store power-system conditions and determine when to
perform control actions. They also accept commands from a remote operator or process.

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6.7 COMMUNICATION DEVICES
A communications processor is a substation controller that incorporates the
functions of many other I&C devices into one IED. It has many communications ports to
support multiple simultaneous communications links. The communications processor
performs data acquisition and control of the other substation IEDs and also concentrates the
data it acquires for transmission to one or many masters inside and outside the substation.

7 SOFTWARE STRUCTURE

The software used in the automation of a substation gives the control for the
hardware structures. These provide the necessary instructions and operations that are to be
followed by the hardware components. Some of the software used are
SCADA
Etap
PLC
HMI

7.1 SCADA

A supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA) transmits and receives
logic or data from events of controls, metering, measuring, safety and monitoring of process
devices such as Electrical equipment, Instrumentation devices, telecommunication on
industrial applications. Power system elements ranging from pole-mounted switches to entire
power plants can be controlled remotely over long distance communication links. Remote
switching, telemetering of grids (showing voltage, current, power, direction, consumption
in kWh, etc.), even automatic synchronization is used in some power systems

7.2 PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CONTROLLER

. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), or Programmable Controller is an

industrial digital computer which has been adapted for the control of manufacturing
processes, such as assembly lines or rugged devices, or any activity that requires high
reliability control and ease of programming and process fault diagnosis.

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8 TECHNICAL ISSUES
Technical issues mainly depend on the coordination between the hardware and
software components.The errors that occur due to the improper integration of the components

8.1 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

The types of data and control that the system will be expected to facilitate are
dependent on the choice of IEDs and devices in the system. This must be addressed on a
substation-by-substation basis. The primary requirement is that the analog readings be
obtained in a way that provides an accurate representation of their values.

8.2 USER INTERFACE

The user interface in the substation must be an intuitive design to ensure effective
use of the system with minimal confusion. An efficient display hierarchy will allow all
essential activities to be performed from a few displays. It is critical to minimize or, better
yet, eliminate the need for typing. There should be a common look and feel established for all
displays. A library of standard symbols should be used to represent substation power
apparatus on graphical displays. In fact, this library should be established and used in all
substations and coordinated with other systems in the utility, such as the distribution SCADA
system, the energy management system, the geographic information system (GIS), the trouble
call management system, etc.

8.3 DATA WAREHOUSE

The corporate data warehouse enables users to access substation data while
maintaining a firewall to substation control and operation functions. Both operational and
non-operational data is needed in the data warehouse. To size the data warehouse, the utility
must determine who the users of the substation automation system data are, the nature of their
application, the type of data needed, how often the data is needed, and the frequency of
update required for each user.

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8.4 FIELD DEVICES
Each electronic device (relay, meter, PLC, etc.) has internal memory to store some
or all of the following data: analog values, status changes, sequence of events, and power
quality. These data are typically stored in a FIFO (first in, first out) queue and vary in the
number of events, etc., maintained.

8.5 SUBSTATION DATA CONNECTOR

The substation data concentrator should poll each device (both electronic and other)
for analog values and status changes at data collection rates consistent with the utilitys
SCADA system (e.g., status points every 2 sec, tie-line and generator analog every 2 sec, and
remaining analog values every 2 to 10 sec). The substation data concentrator should maintain
a local database.

8.6 SCADA SYSTEM

All data required for operational purposes should be communicated to the SCADA
system via a communication link from the data concentrator. All data required for non
operational purposes should be communicated to the data warehouse via a communication
link from the data concentrator. A data warehouse is necessary to support a mainframe or
client-server architecture of data exchange between the system and corporate users over the
corporate WAN (wide area network). This setup provides users with up-to date information
and eliminates the need to wait for access using a single line of communications to the
system, such as telephone dial-up through a modem.

9 COMPARISON
Table 9.1 Comparison between existing substations and automated substation
AUTOMATED SUBSTATION EXISTING SUBSTATION

Highly reliable Its not reliable

Quick transient Response It has poor transient response

Easy fault identification Fault identification is comparatively less

Full control over the entire substation Control over the substation is limited

The design of new substations has the advantage of starting with a blank sheet
of paper. The new substation will typically have many IEDs for different functions, and the
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majority of operational data for the SCADA system will come from these IEDs. The IEDs
will be integrated with digital two-way communications. Typically, there are no conventional
remote terminal units (RTUs) in new substations. The RTU functionality is addressed using
IEDs,PLCs.

In existing substations, there are several alternative approaches, depending on whether

or not the substation has a conventional RTU installed. The utility has three choices for their
existing conventional substation RTUs: integrate RTU with IEDs; integrate RTU as another
IED; retire RTU and use IEDs and PLCs as with new substation.

Equipment Condition Monitoring - Many electric utilities have employed ECM to

maintain electric equipment in top operating condition while minimizing the number of
interruptions. With ECM, equipment-operating parameters are automatically tracked to detect
the emergence of various abnormal operating conditions. This allows substation operations
personnel to take timely action when needed to improve reliability and extend equipment life.
This approach is applied most frequently to substation transformers and high voltage electric
supply circuit breakers to minimize the maintenance costs of these devices, as well as
improve their availability and extend their useful life.

10 ADVANTAGES
The advantages of the automated substation over the existing substation are as
follows. Increased performance and reliability of electrical protection.Advanced disturbance
and event recording capabilities, aiding in detailed electrical fault analysis.Display of real
time substation information in a control centre.Remote switching and advanced supervisory
control.Increased integrity and safety of the electrical power network including advanced
interlocking functions.Advanced automation functions like intelligent load-shedding.

The substation RTU in conjunction with power monitoring equipment on the feeders
monitors, detects, and corrects power-related problems before they occur, providing a greater
level of customer satisfaction. A preventive maintenance algorithm may be integrated into the
system. The resulting ability to schedule maintenance, reduces labour costs, optimizes
equipment use and extends equipment life. Real-time monitoring of power usage throughout
the distribution feeder provides data allowing the end user to track his energy consumption

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patterns, allocate usage and assign accountability to first line supervisors and daily operating
personnel to reduce overall costs.

11 DISADVANTAGES
Investments that are made in the acquisition of substation equipment monitoring
systems add additional costs to maintenance and operation, so the minimization of these costs
is a huge challenge. And the cost of converting the present substation to an automated one
requires a large amount of money.

12 CONCLUSION
Thus these monitoring systems are essential tools that allow distribution
companies to increasingly modernize maintenance techniques and migrate to intelligent and
optimized predictive maintenance. Communications to and among the IEDs allow real-time
data collection, automated substation is capable of supporting all aspects of electric power
protection, automation, control, monitoring, and analysis. Thus the performance of an
automated substation is much better compared to that of the conventional substation.

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REFERENCES

1. A Textbook of Substation Automation Systems:Design and implementation by Evelio

padilla published by Wiley publications

2. http://www.electricenergyonline.com/show_article.php?mag=&article=321

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-system_automation

4. http://electrical-engineering-portal.com/requirements-and-functions-of-substation-
automation

5. http://www.netaworld.org/sites/default/files/public/neta-journals/ExistSubstatInfo-
Pgs51-57.f.pdf

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